French onion soup is a simple, working-peasant dish, and therefore hearty, healthy and amazingly tasty. It is very simple in preparation and in a set of products, but, like all simple classic dishes, this simplicity is extremely deceptive.

You can learn how to cook it in one day, and to understand and feel where is the finest line that distinguishes an ordinary onion soup from an ideal one, a considerable part of life and a great desire are required.

FROM good mood we go to the kitchen in order to conduct a small audit there and prepare desired products to cook French onion soup (recipe with photo step by step).


For four to five servings I will need:

When I cooked onion soup for the first time, it turned out to be a surprise for me that this is not a soup in our traditional sense (you don’t need to pour a ladle into plates), but rather a julienne, only with other components.

French onion soup ( classic recipe) has its relative in Russia - bread soup. This soup was cooked by my grandmother.


Onion soup is really very satisfying, but not heavy on the stomach. In France, it is considered morning soup. It was breakfast for those who didn't go to bed. These are the heroes of Hemingway, after wandering around the city at night, in the morning they settled in some kind of bistro, where hard-boiled eggs were always ready for the first visitors in the morning and you could order onion soup. It was cooked by shepherds, leaving the house in the morning cold, merchants from the "Womb of Paris" arrived after dark and refreshed themselves with it before the arrival of the first buyers. Here are the stories. It may be true that this one came up with wonderful soup Louis XV, but most likely, this stew is much older.

The origin of the exquisite first course is truly royal, because, according to legend, it was first prepared for the King of France, Louis XV. Over the years, French onion soup has changed its original composition and cooking technology, but retained the right to be the best of the best. The uniqueness of the preparation of the famous french dishes lies in the features of roasting onions, it is on this ingredient that the taste completely depends.

French onion soup according to classical technology is easy to prepare, but you will have to spend a lot of time on it. To get the perfect taste of the first course, you need a minimum set of ingredients, but the most important thing is that the main product - onions, be sweet and of high quality.

You can also add some spices, thyme is best, celery is allowed, but experimenting with other fresh or dried herbs in this dish is not recommended.

How to Make Onion French Soup: A Classic Recipe

Ingredients

  • - 1 kg + -
  • — Gruyère or Parmesan+ -
  • - 60 g + -
  • — 1 l + -
  • Thyme - 6 sprigs.
  • French baguette (for making croutons) - to taste;

Cooking classic french soup

  1. Cut the onions into quarters, then into thin strips.
  2. Melt in a frying pan butter, put chopped onion in it. If you like celery, you can add 2-3 stalks for taste.
  3. Saute the onion over medium heat (stir occasionally) until it is browned. It is very important that the onion caramelizes and acquires a beautiful golden hue. On average, this process takes 20-35 minutes. This stage of preparation is very important, the onion must be well fried, but, in no case, do not overexpose it on fire.
  4. Next, pour part of the beef broth (250 ml) into the fried onions and continue cooking the dish, achieving the evaporation of the poured liquid. When you can leave a trace with a wooden spatula while stirring, then we can assume that the onion mass is thick enough.
  5. After that, again add the broth (250 ml) to the onion, and once again evaporate the liquid.
  6. When the second part of the broth has evaporated, pour its remainder (400 ml) into the pan. Bring the product to a boil, and then boil it for as long as necessary to obtain a medium-thick soup.
  7. While the onion soup in French will be cooked, we start cooking the croutons. We will make delicious homemade croutons from a classic French bread product -. We cut the baguette diagonally into thin slices, after which we fry them in a toaster or in a pan.

When the soup is fully cooked, it can be served with ready-made croutons to the table. However, if you want to make French onion soup even more original, then we suggest continuing cooking.

  • Pour the mixture into bowls or bowls. Pour so that no more than 1 cm remains to the top.
  • Grate hard cheese, sprinkle it over the entire surface of the soup.
  • We put the fried croutons on top, then again sprinkle everything with grated cheese.
  • We place the soup in a pot / plate in an oven preheated to t 200 ° C. It is not worth keeping the dish in the oven for a long time, wait until the cheese melts (but does not flow) and serve the hot first course to the table. Sprinkle thyme leaves over each serving before serving.

You can cook French onion soup not only on beef broth, you can also use chicken and vegetable broth. You can also make soup with regular boiling water. Also, to add spice, some housewives add a little alcohol to the first course. Most often, these are such exquisite drinks as dry white wine, sherry, cognac or brandy. We offer to consider one of these recipes step by step.

French Onion Soup with Wine: White Wine Recipe

A very interesting cooking option, and without that fine dining, involves the inclusion of white wine in its composition. Such a special drink, even in small quantities, can decorate the taste of soup and make it truly piquant and original.

Delicious can add "zest" to the dish Rye bread and hard Gruyère cheese. Combined, all these ingredients will allow you to fully reveal the taste properties of your favorite French soup.

Ingredients

  • Gruyere (grated) - 60 g;
  • Beef broth - 200 ml;
  • Butter - 1 tbsp. l.;
  • Onion - 1 pc.;
  • Rye bread - 4 slices;
  • Salt - to taste;
  • White wine - 50 g;
  • Ground black pepper - to taste.


How to make French Onion Soup

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.
  2. We spread the onion sliced ​​\u200b\u200bin rings into it, mix everything, fry the product over medium heat for 20 minutes. Don't forget to stir the roast.
  3. Salt the onion, pepper (focus on the amount - just a pinch), stir.
  4. Add wine to the onion, simmer the onion-wine mixture for 2 minutes.
  5. After - pour in the broth, cook the soup in French under a closed lid for about 20 minutes.
  6. Pour the soup into a special bouillon cup, put a couple of pieces of dark bread on top of it, sprinkle everything with a portion of grated cheese and remove the product to bake in the oven for 3 minutes. Cooking onion soup at t 200 ° C in the "Grill" mode.

You can use several types of cheese for powdering at once (for example, Mozzarella and Parmesan), but all varieties should be hard and not salty.

How to cook onion soup for weight loss

Besides that french soup with onions - delicious and nutritious dish, it can also be very useful, for example, in the fight against extra pounds. Definitely confuse the real french recipe with diet is not worth it, it's 2 completely different dishes, the only thing that unites them is the name and the presence of onions in the composition. Onion is prepared with all kinds of vegetables, but there is no salt, oil, wine and high-calorie bread in it.

Ingredients

  • Tomatoes - 6 pcs.;
  • White cabbage - 1 pc.;
  • Celery (root) - to taste;
  • Onions - 6-7 pcs.;
  • Bulgarian pepper (green) - 2 pcs.


cooking french soup

  1. Wash vegetables, cut into small pieces, then mix them together and pour into a saucepan.
  2. Pour cold water into the container, put the pan on the stove.
  3. As soon as the soup boils, add spices to it (best of all, cumin or turmeric), cool the dish, serve with herbs to the table.

    4. Subscribe

Never try to argue with the French about food, it's useless. No one knows the cuisine better than them, and it is not for nothing that cooking in France has been elevated to the rank of state status. And all the French chefs that I know, with or without stars, always talk so amazingly about their knowledge and love of food that goosebumps run. It seems that they are born with a sense of beauty and improve it all their lives. Take Pierre Gagnère, whom Michelin loves so much, he can make the same dish for 20 and 30 days in a row, bringing it to perfection (as you remember, he doesn’t even stop there). And my recent acquaintance Frederick charismatically joked that “ tasty dish you will be ready to eat even sitting on a garbage can.

And anyone who is even a little fond of cooking, sooner or later, will learn about the classic French onion soup. First thought - are you serious? Soup with onions, broth and toast? And that's it? But the French can't be wrong, they just make masterpieces out of everything they touch. So this time, I just followed the sum of techniques and recommendations that help make the soup so rich and rich in taste that you generally lose contact with reality, you just can’t believe that this is possible. Here everything is so verified and calculated that every time something incredible is obtained, and the serving of this soup is such that it causes a triple appetite and instant addiction. The soup is pleasantly thick, very rich, sweet taste onions and tart thyme, and viscous stretchy cheese with pieces of crispy baguette, reminds us why the French rule the world of cooking - texture and taste in their reference combination - that's what this soup is about.

The rich aroma of the soup is based not so much on the broth, but on the browned onions. Sauteing, in this case, is a procedure in which the onion is slowly cooked, fried, acquiring a ruddy golden-brownish color. This is due to the caramelization of the sugar contained in the onion. Onion sauteing is done within half an hour, but professional chefs can do this for many hours, achieving a specific variety of aromas and flavor charm of the prepared onion soup. Often, to give the soup a special piquancy, in ready meal before cooking is completed, dry white wine, cognac or sherry is added to enhance the aroma, and the soup is infused in a closed saucepan before serving.

So, it's simple. Cut the onion into quarters, and then into a thin strip. It will take about 1 kg of onion for everything, try to take a delicious, white onion.

Melt 60g butter in a frying pan over medium heat.

Put the onion in the pan. I added a couple more celery stalks, but it's not necessary.

Now everything is simple. Fry the onion, stirring occasionally, until it begins to caramelize and turn golden brown. The process is not fast, it will take from 20 to 35 minutes, but it is worth it. This is the most important stage, thanks to which you get a delicious soup.

Then pour in 250 ml of broth. It is better to take beef, but if not, take vegetable, chicken or just boiling water.

The broth will gradually evaporate. And at this time you will pick thyme leaves, from about 5-7 branches. Here he is good because he “plays along” with sweet onions. You can also add dried. But I wouldn't add any other herbs.

The idea is to evaporate the moisture of the broth. When you can leave a trace with a spatula, then the mass is thick enough. Then pour in the next 250 ml of broth. And we repeat the process, again evaporating the liquid.

When the second portion of the broth has evaporated decently (again, the spatula leaves a trace), pour in the rest of the broth (400 ml), bring to a boil and cook so much that the soup is of medium thickness. That is, the spatula will no longer leave a mark, but the soup will not be liquid either.

While the soup is rising, prepare the croutons. Best of all, of course, a baguette is suitable (I took it on rye flour). We cut into thin slices diagonally (you can cut into cubes or even cubes). And roast them in the toaster.

In principle, you can serve soup. But. if you want perfect classics, and even incredible sensations, we are preparing further. Pour soup into serving bowls or soup bowls. I have Wilmax, I don't worry about high temperatures at all. You can take pots. Pour so that there is about a centimeter left to the top.

Grate coarse cheese on top (Gruyere is a real bomb, or another hard cheese, such as parmesan, for example). So that it covers the entire surface of the soup. Put croutons on top.

Top with cheese again.

We put in an oven preheated to 200 degrees. Here our task is simply to melt the cheese and not let the soup cool down. As soon as the cheese is decently melted, but does not start to flow or boil, take it out and serve it to the table.

When you serve, be sure to sprinkle the soup with thyme leaves, their aroma will spread throughout the kitchen, thanks to the hot steam of the soup. And also a small knife, it is convenient for them to cut a baguette, just like that, on top of the soup. Spoon soup, a piece of toast with cheese and go to heaven, I promise you.

A real French soup is a very simple dish! There are quite a few cooking variations: you have chosen 7 interesting recipes for you.

  • chicken bouillon— 500 ml
  • butter - 60 gr
  • hard cheese - 100 gr
  • onion - 5 pcs
  • mini baguette - 1 pc
  • dry thyme - 10 gr

Sprinkle the croutons with cheese. We put in an oven preheated to 200 ° C, here it is important to simply melt the cheese. Usually, it takes 3 minutes. When the cheese is melted, you can safely serve the onion soup to the table. Enjoy your meal!

Recipe 2: French Onion Soup with White Wine

  • 600 g onion
  • 200 ml dry white wine
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 150 g hard or semi-hard cheese
  • 5 tablespoons olive oil
  • 70 g butter
  • 1 liter chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • Ground black pepper
  • Baguette


Dissolve in a saucepan with a thick bottom olive oil, we throw cubes of butter into it, the fire is small.


We cut the garlic into petals, the onion into thin rings or half rings, put it all in oil, sprinkle with sugar and caramelize it all for 7-10 minutes over high heat until it is tanned, stirring occasionally.


Now reduce the heat to a minimum, cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 20 minutes.


Pour in the wine and hot chicken broth, salt and pepper, bring to a boil and leave over low heat for about an hour. open lid let it boil down slowly.


We make croutons: cut the baguette into circles 15 mm thick, rub with a clove of garlic, put on a dry baking sheet, sprinkle lightly with olive oil and put in the oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees.


Pour the finished onion soup into portioned pots or refractory bowls, put a piece or two of toast, sprinkle generously with finely grated cheese on top and put it in the oven for several minutes at 170 or 180 degrees, until the cheese is well melted. Alternatively, the oven can be replaced with a microwave. French onion soup is ready!


Recipe 3: French Red Onion Soup (Step by Step Photos)

  • red onion - 750 gr
  • leek - 250 gr
  • dry white wine - 250 ml
  • garlic - 2 cloves
  • butter - 40 gr
  • vegetable oil - 30 ml
  • thyme - 2-3 sprigs
  • bay leaf - 1 pc.
  • cheese - 100 gr
  • salt pepper


We clean from the husk and finely chop 750 g of red onion.


We cut the leek stalks into thin strips.


Crush a couple of garlic cloves with the side of a knife.


Then we chop them finely.


Pick the thyme leaves by hand.


Pour 30 ml of vegetable oil into a saucepan.


Mix it with 40 g of butter.


First, fry the red onion in a mixture of oils.


Then add leeks to it.


Stirring regularly, fry both types of onions over low heat for about half an hour until they are reddened and the caramelization process begins.


At this point, add chopped garlic.


Add thyme.


And pour a glass of dry white wine.


Next, we send 2 liters of beef or chicken broth to the saucepan.


I'm waiting for the boil.


After the onion soup boils, reduce the heat to medium, cover the saucepan with a lid and continue boiling for another 25 minutes.


Then portionwise pour the soup into refractory containers for serving.


Place 2 baguette toasts on top of each.


Sprinkle them with finely grated cheese.


Put the soup in the oven on medium heat. We bake the dish until a golden crust appears on the cheese.


After that, we take the French onion soup out of the oven and serve it to the table.


Recipe 4: French Onion Soup with Gruyere Cheese

  • unsalted butter - 3 tbsp. spoons
  • large yellow onions - 6 Pieces (about 1.8 kg)
  • salt - 1 to taste
  • water - 2 cups (plus water for onions)
  • dry sherry - ½ cup
  • chicken broth - 4 cups
  • meat broth - 2 cups
  • sprigs of fresh thyme - 6 Pieces
  • bay leaf - 1 piece
  • ground black pepper - 1 to taste
  • small baguette - 1 piece
  • Gruyère cheese - 240 grams (about 2 ½ cups)


Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Spray a large saucepan with oil. Cut the onion into slices about 6 mm thick. Add butter, onion and 1 teaspoon salt to the pan. Cook in oven, covered, 1 hour. The onion will shrink slightly. Remove the pan from the oven, stir in the onions. Return to the pot in the oven, cover with the lid slightly ajar, and continue cooking until the onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 ½ to 1 ¾ hours, stirring the onions after 1 hour.

Remove the pot from the oven and place over high heat. Cook the onion, stirring, until the liquid has evaporated and the onion is brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Reduce heat to medium if the onion is browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the bottom of the pan is dark brown, about 6 to 8 minutes.

Stir the onion with ¼ cup water and cook until the water has evaporated, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat adding water 2 or 3 times until the onion is very dark brown. Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring, until the sherry has evaporated, about 5 minutes.

Add stocks, 2 cups water, thyme sprigs tied with kitchen twine, bay leaf, ½ teaspoon salt and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove thyme and bay leaf, then season with salt and pepper.

Baguette cut into slices. While the soup is simmering, arrange the baguette pieces in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 200 degrees in the oven until the bread is crispy and golden around the edges, about 10 minutes. Fill each bowl with 1 ¾ cups of soup. Top with 1 or 2 slices of baguette and sprinkle with evenly grated Gruyere cheese. Bake in oven until cheese is melted, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe 5: French Onion Soup on the Water (Step by Step with Photo)

  • Onions - 800 g. It is better to take white or yellow onions. Red is absolutely not suitable for this soup!
  • Celery stalks - a couple pieces, about 50 g
  • Olive oil - 3 tablespoons.
  • Water or vegetable broth- 1 liter.
  • Dried thyme - 0.5-1 teaspoon.
  • Flour - 2 tablespoons.
  • Salt and pepper to taste. I need 1 teaspoon of salt for the indicated amount of products.

For serving, you will need cheese and a French baguette (or just bread). The baguette can be taken both white and rye.

  • Cheese should be taken of hard varieties, a piece weighing about 200 g.


Peel the onion, cut each onion into quarters. Finely chop the onion.


Thinly slice the celery stalks.


Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the onion and celery to it. Stir and leave to cook over medium or low heat for half an hour to an hour. At the same time, be sure to periodically stir the onion so that it cooks evenly. The finished onion should greatly decrease in volume and acquire a golden hue.




Add flour to the cauldron, mix with onions. The flour will serve as an additional thickener for the soup.


Add thyme. Pour the onion with water or broth, bring the soup to a boil. Cook uncovered for another 15-20 minutes.


Only then can the soup be salted and peppered. If you do this too soon, you run the risk of oversalting the soup as it boils down during the cooking process.

Cut the baguette into slices and dry in the oven or air grill to make the bread crispy.


If desired, slices of dried bread can be grated with garlic cloves.


Only the finishing touch left!

Pour onion soup into heat-resistant molds.


Lay a piece of baguette on top.


Sprinkle generously with cheese.


We put this miracle to bake in the oven or air grill at a temperature of 180 degrees C. Not for long, for 2-3 minutes. We need the cheese to melt.

Ready! Serve the soup immediately hot, sprinkled with fresh herbs.

Recipe 6: French Onion Soup with Cognac

  • 1 kg onion, cut into half rings
  • 50 gr butter
  • 1 tbsp Sahara
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp flour
  • 200 ml dry white wine
  • 1.5 liters chicken or beef broth
  • 50 ml cognac
  • ground black pepper

For submission:

  • 4 slices of puffed bread
  • 100 gr semi-hard cheese


Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add onion, salt and sugar. Simmer over low heat, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft and golden, about 20-25 minutes.


Sprinkle the onion with flour and fry for another 2-3 minutes, stirring often.


Pour in the wine and bring everything together to a boil over medium heat, cook until the wine has almost completely evaporated.


Pour in the broth, mix well, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a minimum, cover loosely with a lid, cook the soup for 40-50 minutes. The onion should be well boiled, the soup should thicken a little, and its taste should be concentrated. Pour in brandy, bring back to a boil and remove from heat.


Prepare croutons for serving. To do this, preheat the oven to 180 ᵒС. Put the bread on a baking sheet in one layer, and generously put grated cheese on the bread.


Place the baking sheet with the bread in the oven and bake until the cheese begins to brown.


Serve hot onion soup, generously seasoned with black, fresh ground pepper, putting a toast with cheese in each plate.


Recipe 7: Simple French Onion Soup (with photo)

  • onion - 2 pcs
  • butter - 30 gr
  • cheese - 30 gr
  • bread - 1 slice
  • flour - 1 tsp
  • ground black pepper
  • water - 150 ml


Peel the onions, rinse them in water and cut into medium cubes. Melt the butter in a saucepan or cauldron by placing the container on the stove. Add the onion slices to the oil and sauté until golden brown, about 7-10 minutes. Be sure to watch the color of the fried slices and do not forget to mix it.


As soon as the onion slices are browned, add salt, ground black pepper, water and wheat flour to it. Gently mix everything and then simmer on fire for about 10 minutes. Instead of water, you can use any broth: vegetable, chicken, meat, fish - if you have it available. While the soup is cooking, preheat the oven to 200C.


Grate hard cheese with small cells.


Pour the hot soup into a fireproof baking dish. grated cheese put on a crouton, cracker or slice of bread, and put the bread itself in a mold on the soup. We put the form in the oven for exactly 3 minutes so that the cheese on the surface of the bread melts, and the bread itself does not have time to soak in the soup.


After that, carefully remove the form with the first dish from the oven and immediately serve it to the table. Traditionally, French fragrant onion soup is served with a glass of dry white wine. Enjoy your meal!



Ingredients for Classic French Onion Soup Recipe:

Onion soup

French onion soup - onions in broth with cheese and croutons. Onion soups have been very popular since ancient times. These soups were famous and widespread during the Roman era. Due to their availability and ease of cultivation, onions - a staple for making soup - were the main food for many poor families. There is also an opinion that onion soup came from King Louis XV of France.

As a result, anyone who sooner or later became interested in cooking will learn about the origin of the classic French onion soup. The first thought, of course, comes to mind that onion soup is impossible, but once you try it, it will be on your list of favorite soups!

The rich aroma of the soup is based not so much on the broth, but on the browned onions. Sauteing, in this case, is a procedure in which the onion is slowly cooked, fried, acquiring a ruddy golden-brownish color. This is due to the caramelization of the sugar contained in the onion. The soup turns out to be of medium thickness, very rich, sweet taste of onion and tart taste of thyme, and viscous stretching cheese with pieces of crispy baguette - this is real French food.

How to cook a dish step by step with a photo at home

Step 1

Step 5

Fry the onion, stirring occasionally, until it begins to caramelize and turn golden brown. The process is not fast, it will take from 20 to 35 minutes.